As Daerokh entered the room and found the book Faithe followed him and saw the note. She then looked at the text on the books in the room and said, "I know this language...." She read of the titles of a few, her mouth making sounds that no one living should be capable of and then translated them for everyone as she said, "They're all written in the language of the dead, Necril."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Tuco looks at the note quizzically but avoids the box itself, "Seems 'bout right for a manor to be filled with 'dem 'ere undead. Surprised 'dere ain't no lab underground doing alchemical experiments." He picks something out of his teeth, "Seems like it would falls under the same umbrella."
Hearing Faithe speak up about the texts, "Oy Faithe love, you got any titles talkin' 'bout the queen?" He waves her over to the parchment, "Looks to be some puzzle."
”We haven’t searched any basements yet,” Joie points out.
"Somehow I imagine we'll see the basements soon enough, Joie," Daerokh replies.
He thinks on the names of local rulers that he can remember to see if he can offer some insight.
The books here are all written in Necril.
The language of the undead.
Alkenstar shares a border with Geb.
Geb is a nation of undead.
...there's no mistaking it.
This parchment MUST be referring to Grand Duchess Trietta Ricia.
It reads The Herald of Aroden.
Faithe found little of interest as she perused the book titles. Little, at least, until she stumbled on one that stood out from the others. She pointed and said, "This one is important. It says The Herald of Aroden." She reached out to pull the book free so she could take it to a place to sit down and read it.
Joie taps her chin. "Aroden. The dead human god," she says; it may have started as a question, but she seems sure of herself by the time she reaches the punctuation. "Is that a history or propaganda, I wonder?"
"Most of my understanding of history pertains to dwarven matters and their interactions with other peoples...knowing which human Queen, dead or otherwise, is which is something I gotta work on..." Daerokh comments. "...which is to say 'Yeah, I got nothin'."
Curiously, the account ends halfway through the book with her death at the hands of the Whispering Tyrant. The rest of the book is really just a hollow case--and in the centre of it is a black iron disk with what looks like an engraving of a drop of blood on it.
As Tuco mentioned the relative lack of underground alchemical labs, the swashbuckler reached out and rapped his knuckled against a nearby wooden piece, just in case. No sense in letting the half-orc jinx him, as well.
Jase stifled a yawn as the others seemed to be really interested in some kind of book in the room written in a weird language. Since it appeared to be history lesson time, the young man dutifully took up a station near the door, keeping a look out to ensure any other current occupants could not sneak up on the party.
Tuco idled a bit in the room, his pacing became a little more than a nuisance as his frame knocked over a few things here and there. "So... Find anythin'? I can ask my patron but I don't be thinkin' its a good idea to bother 'em."
As Faithe flipped through the book she realized that something was wrong when she reached the point about the herald's death at the hands of the Whipsering Tyrant. Flipping to the page she found a hollow spot with and iron disk in it with an engraving like a drop of blood on it. She looked to the others and held the book out then Faithe said, "Yes, I found something."
Daerokh reads over Faithe's shoulder (at least as best he can given his stature), and gives a small "Hmm" when they find the disk.
"That doesn't look like a key fragment, but it still looks important," he comments.
Upon closer inspection of the box, there appears to be a circular depression in its lid that looks about the right size for the disk to be placed into.
Joie frowns, glancing over at it.
It's not something she knows... really anything about, to be honest.
She goes back to standing guard, dan bong in one hand, eyes on the door.
"I'm starting to wonder if this place is where we were being directed, and not the mine," she offers.
Tuco grunts in agreement, "Seems so. Ain't lookin' like a regular house." He wanders over to the box, "There be an indent 'ere. Maybe yous can put what you found in."
He looks it over a few times before shrugging, "Seems safe 'nuff."
Jase alternated his attention between the door and the goings-on inside the room. As Faithe made some more discoveries about the book and some weird disk, the young man thought that someone had gone through quite a bit of bother to orchestrate all of this. Still, there would be no reward without the killer, and perhaps all of this information would lead them to where the terrible ghoul-creature was. If it wasn't just downstairs.
Daerokh watches and waits. It seems it was now Faithe's show for the moment.
Tired of waiting for a response Faithe approached the box and pulled the disk out of the book. When she reached the box she placed the disk into the spot meant for it and then pressed gently on it to make sure it was seated firmly in place.
The box pops open when the disk is inserted in the top.
Inside is a shaft of metal--it looks like it's part of a key.
Putting all three pieces together creates a key with an image of a lantern on its base.
"We've struck mithral!" Daerokh says as they reassemble the key. "Let's finish our investigations up here, and then see what this key opens."
He strides out the door and begins looking around in earnest again.
Jase arched an eyebrow as the final piece of the key was produced in the book, the finished product coming together to produce a rather intricate contraption. Not wanting to put a damper on Daerokh's enthusiasm, the swashbuckler nodded, smiling, "Agreed! I'm definitely ready to get back to it."
With that, the young man looked about outside the door once again, giving a cursory examination for any hostiles, before inquiring, "So where to now, exactly? Downstairs? Or anywhere else up here?"
Tuco winces as Faithe opens the lockbox and lets out a sigh of relief. "Ha! Lookie you!" He slams a hard on her shoulder, "I was ready to help yous out should there be some trouble in dat 'dere box." He grins a toothy grin.
"A key. Any of yous see a door with a lock? My guess is 'dat 'da glowy door down below must be somefin' special." He shakes his head to the door and begins moving out, "Ain't no time like now yeah?"
Daerokh nods.
"My guess is you're right, Tuco. Remember though that there were some more things lurking around on the main level before we came up here...we should clear that out first."
He hefts his axe and moves to the front of the group.
"I'll take point."
The remainder of the upper floor appears to be clear of hostiles, as Daerokh learns in his exploration...
These rooms appear to have once been servant's quarters. They each have one bed inside, along with a splintered armoire and a small footlocker. The beds' linens have turned from a pristine white to a faded grey. Searching the footlockers reveals a few old personal belongings:
--A weathered grey shirt--that's oddly still in good condition;
-- tarnished gold pieces, each with a statue's head on one side and a lightning bolt on the other;
--A rapier made of an alchemical silver alloy.
The westernmost corner room looks like it was once some sort of observatory. A rusted telescope sits in the far corner of the room, facing a broken window. A desk sits flush against the room's southern wall, covered in old papers. A couple of them are scrolls!
--1 scroll of starsight;
--1 scroll of identify;
--1 scroll of detect thoughts.
The easternmost corner room looks like it was an old drawing room or laboratory. Broken glassware is scattered all over the floor, and the shelves in the room have all been stripped bare. A quick search of the destroyed lab reveals the following items:
--2 potions of clear blue fluid;
--1 potion of inky black fluid.
This room looks like it was once a guest bedroom. Red curtains have been torn from the windows and thrown across the filthy, moth-eaten bed. Whatever else was of value in this room has long since been taken.
The party congregates back on the first floor, preparing to press onward...
"Neat!" Alorea brandishes the silvered rapier, marveling at its gleaming blade. "Anybody mind if I borrow this?"
"Be my guest," Daerokh replies. "You're probably better at using them than me."
"If you had not grabbed it, I would have passed it to you," admits Joie.
Tuco eyes the shirt that Daerokh hands him, the dwarf did have good eyes for value.
"Oh 'dis 'ere shirt. There be some magic weaves inside yeah? Make you quick, but the magic be frail. Prolly needs daybreak for it to work again." He offers up the quick runner's shirt to whoever wants it. "I dun need to be on the move, one of yous guys prolly needs it more yeah?" He smiled knowing full well that the story of the Tailor was only going to become more solidified, magic shirts and all.
Wandering about the observatory, the half-orc eyes some scrolls. "How is 'dis place so rich with stuff? Magic stuff no less." Huffing he holds the scroll and reads it, "Starsight, identify and detect thoughts..." Turning to the others he asks, "Now what woulds a ghoul be usin' 'dem wordy parchment for? The stars? I wonder if my patron be knowin' much 'bout that."
Seeing no one protest the Tailor pockets the scrolls.
Once he reaches the laboratory he eyes the potions and with little effort is able to identify them for his allies. "Cure Light Wounds and Invisibility. Trust me on 'dis, you's be wantin' them."
Jase frowned as Alorea laid claim to the rapier and others backed up said claim, even though he also used that specific weapon. Maybe he wasn't as charming as he suspected he might be. Still, she was pretty cute and tolerably feisty, so he hushed and instead latched onto the shirt that Tuco offered. "Sounds like it's right up my alley. Thanks, Tailor."
The young man offered a smile to the half-orc before quickly donning the shirt, not sure what would make it work. He'd have to wing it, as always. He watched the half-orc identify the rest of the magic stuff with bored dignity, his eyes glazing over only a portion of the time as the group waited on the important task to be completed.
Once the group had re-congregated on the first floor, the swashbuckler felt a bit of vigor flow back into him. He looked about for possible danger, "Let's finish this floor and then see what's down below? Or just push downward?"
"The former," Daerokh replies, beginning to look around to make sure there aren't any ambushes that were set up while they were upstairs.
Aside from the undead on the other side of the doors to the north, at least.
Daerokh moves towards the north doors.
"Ready to make some more undead just dead?" he asks the group.
Joie slaps her palm with her beatin' stick.
"Affirmative," she says, dropping into her stance.
Jase chuckled at the dwarf's quip, nodding his affirmative before heading forward with the others, his weapon at the ready should anything try to sneak out while they were in transit.
Daerokh throws the north door open!
The dining room is just as full of zombies as it was previously inspected. The undead in the room turn at the sound of the door opening and begin to advance.
"Might as well yeah? Ain't sufferin' the undeath."
Taking advantage of the zombies' poor reactions, Alorea dashes around the nearest one to provide a flanking partner for Joie. She slices with her dagger.
Seeing the dashing private detective run headlong into the room, Jase quickly followed behind before the brave woman could get surrounded by the shambling undead. He then thrust his weapon at the poor fellow in the doorway before setting his defenses against any of the zombies that might try to snack on him.
Joie lets her partners poke their weapons through the creature before she reaches out, not particularly wishing to be skewered herself, and grabs the zombie by the shoulder from behind!
Daerokh joins the fight, hacking at the zombie with his axe.
Faithe understood little about how such things as these magic items ended up here so she didn't comment on it. As they moved forward and found the room full of zombie Faithe knew her chance to be useful had come once again as she moved to the doorway but stayed to the side so as to not block the door too much.
Alorea, Jase and Joie bear down on the nearest zombie and proceed to slash, stab and grab at it before Daerokh finally manages to hack the thing's head off with his axe.
The zombies all turn and start to wearily shuffle towards the party, only one of them actually getting within arm's reach of the sylph.
Quite pleased at the party's quick work with the first zombie, the young man turned his blade on the next walking corpse in line, trying to line up a clear, clean shot at the thing's vitals. If it had them.